Arsenal
Arsenal To Table Audacious £7m Bid For Chelsea Star, Player ‘Would Consider’ Move
Arsenal are set to table an audacious £7m bid for out-of-favour Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech and the player would consider a move to the Emirates Stadium
With the January transfer now open for business, managers are working hard to strengthen their squads ahead of the second half of the season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Arsenal are linked with Chelsea’s Petr Cech….
Arsenal are set to table an audacious £7m bid for out-of-favour Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech and the player would consider a move to the Emirates Stadium, according to reports.
Cech has been on the books at Chelsea for over ten years since joining the club from Rennes in 2004 and up until this season, he’s been a regular fixture in the Blues starting eleven and played a key role in winning a number of honours including three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League.
However, the 32-year-old has been axed from the first team this campaign with Jose Mourinho naming Thibaut Courtois as his new number one after the Belgian youngster enjoyed a hugely impressive spell on loan at Atletico Madrid.
Cech has remained a consummate professional but understandably he’s not willing to sit on the bench for too much longer and it looks as though he could be offered a fresh start in North London.
The Daily Star claim that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has finally lost patience with Wojciech Szczesny after his two errors led to a 2-0 defeat to Southampton on New Year’s Day and the Gunners supremo is now set to table a £7m bid for Cech.
Szczesny has been left out the Arsenal squad for today’s FA Cup clash with Hull City with David Ospina set to start between the sticks and it appears the Pole may have to get used to sitting on the sidelines if Wenger is successful in luring Cech away from Stamford Bridge.
It remains to be seen how Chelsea will react if Arsenal do follow up their interest with an official bid but Cech’s agent, Viktor Kolar, recently urged the Gunners to make an offer and suggested that the Czech stopper would consider a switch to the Emirates – although he feels any potential move may have to wait until the summer.
“It’s unlikely Petr will leave Chelsea in the January transfer window. The club and coach want to keep him to help win the title. I think Arsenal should have made an offer to him. I think Petr would be considering it.
“Liverpool need to strengthen their position in goal and they know Petr will be available in the summer.
“We’ve been in contact with Real Madrid, but they don’t need a keeper just now.” Kolar is quoted as saying by the Mirror.
It does seem unlikely that Chelsea would allow Cech to leave mid-season as they are still competing in four competitions but a summer move is almost a certainty and it sounds as though the keeper would consider moving to a Premier League rival.
READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Chelsea transfer news
The big question mark is whether Mourinho would be willing to sell to one of their closest competitors. The good news for Arsenal is that the Portuguese coach agreed to sell Juan Mata to Manchester United but it remains to be seen whether he’ll do likewise with Cech or force him to move abroad next summer.
However, even if Chelsea do agree to sell, I have a feeling the West Londoners will demand much more than £7m for a player of Cech’s quality, so Arsenal may have to dig a little deeper if they want to stand a chance of persuading the Blues to cash in.
